1. Who/Where are your (juicy red) core customers?

1. What are you really selling them?

1. What are your three Brand Promises?

1. What methods do you use to measure whether you’re keeping those promises? (We call these the Kept Promise Indicators, a play on the standard definition of KPIs.)

8. Employees can articulate the following key components of the company’s strategy accurately.

• Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) – Progress is tracked and visible. Core Customer(s) – their profile in 25 words or less.

• 3 Brand Promises – And the corresponding Brand Promise KPIs reported on weekly.

• Elevator Pitch – A compelling response to the question “What does your company do?

Deeply understanding the situations customers are in, the jobs they are trying to get done in those situations, and the outcomes they are seeking is vital to anticipating how those situations might change.

To help assess if an organization suffers from destructive competition and conflict—and to figure out how to fix it—we ask, “Who are the superstars here?” Followed by “Do people get ahead by doing great work and helping others succeed? Or doing great work while ignoring and even undermining colleagues?” When people are rewarded for helping others, many of the ugly dynamics that infected Microsoft—and so many other places—disappear.

When you get too caught up in showing your prowess—“Look at what we can do!”—you’re losing focus on the only thing that matters, which is what will make your customer happy.